


in your headspace

by Anonymous



Category: Waterparks (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Fluff, Multi, Pack Cuddles, Pining, Polyamory, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 13:18:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18661204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/





	in your headspace

The moon was rising, and Awsten was restless. He paced the living room, and tried not to think about the way the dusk was setting in. 

The room smelt of the takeaway they'd had for dinner. He was still struggling with the wolf senses, confusing instincts pulling him in two directions at once. He'd only done this once before, but strangely the one thing that wasn't confusing right then was the pull of the moon. 

He paced. It wasn't his apartment, this was Otto and Geoff's place, small and cluttered. Awsten kind of loved it. They'd been the ones to find him bleeding out on the concrete the morning after his first moon. He didn't know who'd turned him, just that the attack had left him with silvery scars across his chest that had since faded-- superhumanly fast. He'd been lost, hurt, scared... He had no idea what would have happened to him if Otto and Geoff hadn't taken him home with them, bandaged his wounds, and told him the truth about werewolves. God, had that really only been a month ago? It felt like a lifetime ago. He couldn't stop having the nightmares. 

Otto was playing some game on Geoff's switch, glaring as the game-over sound played again and again. Geoff was lying out next to him, practically in Otto's lap, staring absently out of the window. Awsten didn't understand how they could be so calm, he felt like he had a fever. He did, in a way. A moon fever. 

He completed another lap of the room, tapping his fingers against his legs as he walked. 

"Dude," Otto complained, pausing the game. "Can you chill? You're making me edgy." 

"I don't get it," Awsten said, coming to stop at the end of the sofa, by Geoff's feet. "I can't-- I don't know, I want to _move._ How can you guys just be so... normal?" 

"It gets easier," Otto said. The he reconsidered. "Well, that's a lie. You get better at dealing with it. Should've seen Geoff when I first met him, though," he said. "Hyperactive as a toddler and grumpy as one too." 

"Find that hard to imagine," Awsten said. Geoff had hardly moved since he'd climbed up next to Otto earlier that evening. 

Geoff shrugged. "Gets easier when you don't have to do it alone."

Right. Awsten knew that Geoff had been a werewolf for longer than Otto had, but he didn't know the details, other than Geoff had gone through his first changes by himself. Otto ruffled Geoff's hair before picking up the controller again. They both looked so comfortable, so familiar with each other. It made something deep in Awsten's heart ache. 

If he was being honest, the whole werewolf thing wasn't the real problem. The problem was how much he wanted to be part of something that wasn't meant for him. 

"Awsten?" Otto said, and Awsten realised he'd been staring. 

"Sorry," he said, rubbing a hand over his face. "Zoned out." 

He caught the very obvious look Geoff and Otto shared. "What?" 

"Look, stop standing there looking lonely," Geoff said, shuffling away from Otto so there was a gap between them on the sofa. "Just come and sit down. You'll feel better." 

"Oh, I-- okay," Awsten said. "Sure." 

The sofa was old, and creaked ominously when Awsten clambered in between them. It definitely wasn't big enough for three, but Geoff had already stretched out so his legs were over Awsten and Otto's laps. 

"This is making it so much harder to beat this level," Otto said mildly, lifting the controller over Geoff's legs, but he leant against Awsten as if it was nothing. Him and Geoff seemed to both have the same thing in mind: cuddle Awsten as much as he would permit. 

It weirdly did help. Awsten could still feel the silver-hooked pull of the moon as it rose above the skyline, but he felt anchored here, on the worn little sofa in the apartment that was starting to feel more like home than his place ever had. The wolf was calling the way it always did, whispering of dark concrete streets and hidden places, but for once he could breathe around the call.

"How are you feeling now?" Geoff asked quietly. 

"Better," Awsten admitted. "It's... nice. Is it always... like this?" _Or am I just rapidly falling more and more in love with you and your boyfriend?_

"Werewolves aren't meant to be solitary creatures," Geoff said. "We're often forced to be alone because of circumstance, but yeah. It's always like this when you're with your pack." 

"So who's your pack?" Awsten asked. 

"Me," Otto broke in. 

"Mhmm." Geoff reached across Awsten to nudge Otto's shoulder affectionately. "It's just us. Apart from you, that is." 

"Me?" 

"Well, yeah. You're part of the pack now, right, Otto?" 

"You always have been," Otto agreed. "From the moment we saw this weird blue haired guy lying face down in an abandoned building only werewolves ever go into the morning after the full moon." 

"I... Oh." 

"You okay?" Geoff asked, putting a hand on Awsten's arm. Awsten was far too close to both of them to be having this conversation, but he didn't want to move away. He felt like he would burst out of his skin if he got up. 

"I just... moon's rising." 

"Yeah." 

"I'm scared," Awsten realised. 

"It sucks," Otto said, "But we'll be right there with you." 

Geoff put his arm round Awsten's shoulders, pulling him closer. It was an awkward angle, but Awsten let him. He'd have let either of them do anything just then. 

"Think we'd better get going?" Geoff asked. Otto glanced out of the window, nodded. 

They got up. Otto turned the Switch off, Geoff searched for his keys, but Awsten caught them sharing another significant look. He felt kind of bad for intercepting what was clearly supposed to be their private communication, but he couldn't help it. He didn't know if it was because of the wolf in him or the fact was _them_. He was hyper aware of the way they made sure that at least one of them was close to him at all times. He appreciated it, and refused to let himself interpret it. 

Before they left the apartment, he took a deep breath. "Hey, don't-- don't let me hurt anyone?" 

"We won't," Otto said. "Don't worry. Strict no hurting policy in this household." 

Awsten had to smile a little at that. "How do you always know what to say?" he asked.

Geoff had gone ahead down the stairs, and Otto glanced after him as he said "Geoff was exactly the same. Worse, I guess, because he'd been alone for a while, so he was all defensive and scared. You'll be okay, Awsten. We'll make sure of that." 

 

The city air was cold and clear. The darkness was lit by street lamps at first, but as they cut down alleys and through subways, the lights started to get fewer and further between. Awsten's feverishness was cooled a little by being outside and moving, but he still hurried, unable to relax. This time, though, he noticed Geoff and Otto were starting to act the same. Otto kept speeding up, a pace and a half ahead of them. Geoff was taking deep, slow breathes, and Awsten found himself copying him, everything turning to snapshots as they passed under dim lights. A breath, _in, out_ , up a metal staircase that looked like it hadn't been used in years. _In, out_ , they came out onto the concrete expanse of an abandoned multistorey carpark, Otto took Geoff's hand. 

_In, out_ , Awsten's lungs ached from the cold or the fever, and the moon was rising in the huge dark sky above them.

Otto gently let go of Geoff's hand, and took a half step away-- within easy reach, but not touching anyone. Normally it wouldn't have been noticeable, but Awsten was starting to learn how important touch could be for werewolves. 

"Otto?" he asked. 

"Yeah, I'm here," Otto replied, his voice a little tense. "Just need a moment." 

"Otto's the most private werewolf I've ever met," Geoff said. 

Otto pointedly ignored him. "How you guys feeling?" he asked briefly. 

Awsten was almost shivering, even though he felt like his skin was burning. Geoff was tapping his foot, voice a little too loud. He looked... something. Awsten couldn't quite identify the expression on his face, but he thought maybe it was fear. He was taken aback by how much he suddenly wanted to comfort him. He wasn't sure what would be welcomed, though, so he hesitantly reached out his hand. Geoff flinched, just a tiny bit, but took it. His palm was clammy. 

"How long did you do this before you met Otto?" Awsten asked him, as a distraction from both whatever was upsetting Geoff and the feeling he was going to shiver out of his own skin. 

"Four, five times? Total of twelve moons, so..." 

"Yeah, 'cause I've got a total of like seven," Otto said. "I've known Geoff since my first." 

A horrible thought occurred to Awsten. "He didn't..." 

"I didn't turn Otto, no," Geoff said dryly. "But we were both turned by the same guy. I was hunting him when I found Otto, trying to stop him doing what he did to me to anyone else. Guess I was too late." 

"Wasn't your fault," Otto said. 

"Wait," Awsten said before Geoff could answer. "You said when we first met you'd been hunting the guy who turned _me_." 

"Yeah," Geoff muttered. "Guess I'm just a shitty hunter." He pulled his hand out of Awsten's. 

Awsten suddenly didn't know what to say. He was finding it increasingly hard to think, his mind cluttered with moon related chaos. It was almost as if he could _feel_ the city around him, the hum of distant traffic and the smell of dusty concrete filling his senses with the desire to run, to melt into the shadows and become just another part of the night. To run with his pack til morning. 

He knew they felt it too. There was so much he wanted to say, to comfort Geoff, to thank Otto, to cheerfully annoy them both in the way he specialized in, to tell them he loved them-- but under the bright, full moon, everything faded. 

Words were a problem for tomorrow's Awsten, he decided-- and gave in to the call of the moon.


End file.
